Twelve Days of No 6
by canagg
Summary: Christmas is here at last... No. 6 style! As the days get shorter and colder and heat is harder to come by, Shion forgets about Christmas, but Nezumi doesn't...? A sweet, Christmas-themed story. Rated T cuz I'm paranoid(aren't we all?)! Nezushi shipped here! -
1. The First Day

_**Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish for it, I do not own No. 6. But maybe if I'm a really good girl this year and update all my stories in a reasonable amount of time, Santa will give me the owner rights next year for Christmas! YEAHHHH-no. ;-;**_

**Chapter 1**

Snow. Pure white snow. For the moment, it was sparkling in the moonlight as it spiraled down from the sky. To Shion, it seemed as though each snowflake came down in pairs instead of individually. Over there was one snowflake dancing around another as though they were celebrating, and then falling less than an inch away from Shion's nose, tinted red from the cold, was a pair of snowflakes that floated down to the earth right beside each other, neither of them even so much as a millimeter ahead or behind the other.

He knew that, soon enough, the freshly fallen snow would be trampled by hundreds of people, some of them only slightly cleaner than mud, and then it would turn into brown slush. But for now, it was glistening in the silver shafts of light, untainted.

"Shion!"

Shion turned around to see Nezumi standing not too far away from him, his hands tucked neatly into his pockets and his scarf pulled tight up around his neck and chin.

"What are you doing out here?" Nezumi called out.

"It's snowing."

He rolled his eyes. "Idiot. Of course it is." His gaze slithered down Shion's body, causing the victim to shiver as a wave of heat came with the intense stare, and then frowned. "You're not even wearing a proper coat."

Shion picked at his clothes. Nezumi was right; he was only wearing a sweater underneath a light jacket, and his pants weren't really the type to hold in heat. "Oh."

"'Oh'? That's it? You're going to freeze to death and all you have to say is 'oh'?"

"Oops."

Nezumi sighed. "Get inside," he grumbled. "I'd hate to have you die and then I'd be left with dealing with your body."

Shion started walking towards him. "Your concern is touching."

* * *

><p>In all honesty, it wasn't that much warmer inside their apartment. It was getting more and more expensive to buy any source of heat or even any sort of fuel, and despite both Nezumi's and Shion's hard work, they hadn't had quite enough money to keep up. Shion could tell that, even though he was trying to hide it, Nezumi was getting irritated by their money situation.<p>

Shion eyed his coat, which was draped across the arm of the couch. He wanted to put it on, but he also didn't want Nezumi to feel bad by the fact that he needed his coat on even while inside. So instead, he remained standing next to the couch while Nezumi sat, trying to keep his blood circulating by bouncing on the balls of his feet slightly. Without even realizing it, he started humming.

Nezumi looked up at him after a minute. "What's that?"

Shion blinked. "What's what?"

"That song," he replied. "You've been humming a song. I don't recognize the tune."

"Oh!" Shion thought for a second, trying to recall what had been running through his mind a moment ago. He flushed. "It's… it's nothing."

Nezumi's piercing gray eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me it's nothing. What. Is. It?"

"It's just… an old song my mother used to sing," Shion tried to look at Nezumi, but failed. He didn't want to bring up his old life in No. 6, especially not now. But Nezumi remained silent, though Shion could still feel his gaze trained on himself. When the tense silence continued for several minutes, Shion couldn't help himself.

"S-she said it used to be a traditional Christmas song," he stammered. "Most people don't know it nowadays, but… I-it's called "Twelve Days of Christmas." Maybe… you've heard of it?"

"Why should I know it?" Nezumi leaned back into the couch, closing his eyes. "I've never really dealt with things like Christmas."

"Ah." What else was there to say? What else _could_ he say?

Nezumi creaked open one eye and glanced at Shion. "Do you remember all the lyrics to it?"

Shion jumped. "What?"

"The lyrics. Do you remember them all?"

"Y-yeah… I think."

"Sing it."

Shion felt the blood rush to his face. "I'm not one much for singing…"

"Just say it then."

Shion stared at Nezumi for a second, then quickly looked away. He couldn't stand Nezumi's sharp, steadfast stare; it was like his gleaming gray eyes were slowly cutting into Shion's soul, sliver by sliver, trying to figure him out. Shion tried to throw up a shield, but the gray knives still found him, no matter what.

But... maybe he didn't need a shield.

Shion took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to remember first the tune, then the words that naturally came with the soft melody.

"On the first day of Christmas," he said, slowly and carefully, "my true love gave to me: a partridge in a pear tree."

Shion went on until he reached the last verse. Nezumi's gaze didn't leave him once the whole time. Shion could have sworn that the other boy never even blinked. When he finally finished reciting the song, he simply stood there, returning Nezumi's unrelenting stare. They sat there for what felt like days, neither of them backing down, neither looking away. At last, Nezumi let out a soft chuckle as he relaxed in his seat.

"Did you lose track of time?" He asked.

"Huh?" Shion blinked, confused.

"Remember what day it is?"

"Oh, um..."

Nezumi rested his arms on the back of the couch and let out a sigh. "Christmas. It's Christmas." He snickered. "I thought you of all people would remember some sappy holiday like that."

"Well, sorry to disappoint you," Shion replied with a sigh as he, too, sat down on the couch. "I've just been busy."

"Yeah, well, we both have."

Shion glanced at Nezumi out of the corner of his eye. "So why did _you_ remember it, then?"

This time, it was Nezumi's turn to blush, even though he hid it much more well than Shion with a hand covering his face casually as he leaned forward on his elbows. "Like I said," he coughed, "I thought that you would be into a corny holiday like Christmas. I was merely bracing myself for the worst."

Shion was quiet for a second, then he smiled.

Nezumi eyed him warily. "What's that stupid grin for?"

"Nothing, nothing, I was just…"

"Just what?"

"Just thinking that you might have actually been looking forward to Christmas."

Nezumi choked on the very air he was breathing. "Where on earth did you pull _that_ lame idea from?"

"Your face," Shion's grin widened. "Just now, you looked as though you had anticipated something."

"Yeah, I had anticipated you acting like an idiot."

"Well," Shion leaned back and stretched his arms across the couch like Nezumi had been doing a minute ago, "guess you were wrong. I had really forgotten that Christmas was today, so I didn't prepare anything for it. Oh well."

Nezumi nodded. "Good."

"Good?"

"Yes, good."

"You look…" Shion chewed on his lower lip for an instant, trying to think of the right word, "disappointed."

Nezumi scoffed. "Do not."

"Do too."

"Do _not_."

"Do _too_."

"Ugh," Nezumi groaned as he rubbed the back of his head. "You sound like you're five."

"Do not," Shion protested.

"Do too."

"Do _not_."

"Do-" Nezumi shook his head violently. "Agh! Forget it!"

Shion snickered. "A bit touchy today, are we?"

Nezumi gave his shoulder a shove. "Shut it, Snowman."

"Snowman? Really?"

"Hey," he reached out and gently tugged on a piece of Shion's snow-white hair, "it fits, doesn't it? Anyways," he said, his hand dropping, "I guess, since you aren't interested in Christmas, you don't want to see what I had gotten… oh, well…"

Shion fidgeted in his seat. "You… got something?"

"Yup," Nezumi put his hands behind his head, interlacing his fingers. "But since you forgot all about Christmas, I guess it doesn't matter…"

More squirming. "Um… well…" Shion felt his heartbeat speed up like a little kid's does on Christmas morning when he sees all the presents stacked underneath the tree. "I… I could still…"

Nezumi smiled softly. "Thought so."

"W-what?"

He ruffled Shion's hair. "Nothing. Here, come on."

Nezumi stood up and hefted Shion up by his elbow. He dragged him into the rows of bookshelves until they reached the very back wall. He turned right and stopped, letting go of Shion's arm and stepping to the side, a smug, satisfied smile washing over his face. Shion stood there, his jaw slowly dropping open in surprise.

There, only a foot away, was a small, green tree. It only came up to Shion's neck, but it was filled out with bristling green branches and filled with life. There were some strands of sparkling silver tinsel dangling from the ends of the branches, as well as a few ornaments nestled within the branches themselves.

"How…" Shion reached out to stroke the tips of the branches; a piece of tinsel slipped through his fingers.

"Rikiga gave it to me," Nezumi explained. "He said he didn't need it and figured you would like it. I found the decorations on my own."

"Nezumi…" Shion spun around and, without thinking, threw his arms around Nezumi's torso. "Thank you," he whispered.

Nezumi was shocked into silence for a minute before he returned the embrace. "Idiot," he murmured into Shion's silky snow-white hair. "Merry Christmas."

* * *

><p><strong>Wow… that end… it hurt me. So cheesy. ;-;<strong>

**But I love cheese! ^-^**

**I hope everyone is having a fantastic Christmas so far! I know I am! We got a flat screen TV and a blu-ray player, and it takes flash drives, so now I can take the 104 episodes of anime I have on my computer that I haven't watched yet and watch them on the TV after working on fan fictions for my hourly turn on the computer, then go back after my sister's hour and work more on my fan fiction or read manga! Sweetness, right?**

**What did you guys get? I WANT TO KNOW! Seriously. Tell me. Like now. - **

**This fan fiction is obviously themed for Christmas. I'm going with the 'Twelve Days of Christmas', but not quite the one most of you might know. At first I **_**was**_** going to base it off the song, but then decided to change it. Now it's based off of the twelve days of a Christmas tree.**

**If you want to know what I mean by that, I'll explain it in further A/Ns in further chapters. As some of you may have guessed, I will update one chapter a day for the next twelve days. I will! I CAN DO THIS!**

**But for now…**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS! ^-^-^-^-^-^ LET IT SNOW SO MUCH THAT WE NEVER HAVE TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL!**


	2. The Second Day

_**Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue; if you think I own No. 6, you belong in a zoo.**_

**Chapter 2**

"Screw it all," Nezumi grumbled to himself.

Almost no one was hiring that day. No odds and ends jobs, no mechanic jobs, no violent jobs. Nothing. There was hardly even any pocket change on the street; people were watching their money much more closely with the sudden rise in prices. Nezumi's theatre wasn't paying him as much, either. The theatre's attendance rate was dropping, so it wasn't able to put on shows as often, which meant that Nezumi wouldn't get paid as often. Great.

He sighed and tightened his scarf around his neck. It was getting colder, too. The snow yesterday had been light, barely being enough to blanket the ground in white, and it had melted soon enough, anyways. But now, Nezumi was hearing whispers that there was supposed to be a big snowstorm coming soon. It was getting hard to tell whether it was a good thing or a bad thing; normal jobs like the theatre would be closed if it snowed too much, so that would be bad, but on the other hand, other jobs would open up, like running errands for snowed-in civilians.

Nezumi groaned. Was he actually getting kind of excited over the possibility of _errand boy_? That was definitely not a good sign.

By now, he had reached his and Shion's apartment. Truth be told, he felt bad going back in there without having brought any money home. Nevertheless, he grit his teeth and opened the door.

"Hey," he called out, "I'm back."

He stopped when he saw Shion sitting on the couch, a book in his hand and one kid on either side of him. All three of them looked up at once when they heard him coming in. Shion smiled at him while the two kids simply stared with wide eyes.

"Hi, Nezumi," Shion said. "Welcome back."

Nezumi blinked. "What…"

"Oh!" Shion closed the book and laid it on his lap. "This is Ira," he gestured to the girl, who appeared to be about seven or eight, on his left, "and this is Jaird," he finished, placing his hand on top of the head of the boy to his right, who was probably around five.

"And?"

"…And you didn't close the door yet. Hurry it up."

Nezumi didn't move his eyes once as he slammed the door behind him. The kids flinched. He rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Can't say I'm surprised. Well, whatever."

Shion stood up, obviously sensing that something was off. "They just came in to here a few stories. Their mom works all day, so…"

"Right, right," Nezumi took off his heavy coat and walked over to his bed and sat down on it. "Got it." And with that, he sprawled himself out on the bed and closed his eyes.

He must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew, he was being prodded in the middle of his back. He jerked wide awake, lifting himself up on his elbows and twisting around to see the source of the insistent pokes. He ended up staring into the wide, unblinking eyes of two little kids, both of them kneeling next to his bed. One of them, the boy, Jaird, held a small stick.

"Awake now?" Jaird inquired. Ira quickly covered her brother's mouth as if talking was a crime, but her bright green eyes never left Nezumi's.

Nezumi sat up properly and yawned. "What are you two doing?"

No response. They simply continued to stare. Both of them had the same emerald green eyes, which only made their silence more… eerie.

Nezumi glanced around the room. "Where's Shion?" He asked when he realized the other boy was gone. "Wasn't he just here?"

Ira shook her head, drawing Nezumi's gaze back to her.

"What?" He said. "Did Shion go somewhere?"

She nodded, then pointed to Nezumi. "You," she finally said, her voice a hushed whisper.

"No," Nezumi said slowly, suddenly wondering how much the two could actually understand. "I'm not Shion; I'm Nezumi. Where's Shion? Shion. You know…" He started to pat his head. "White hair. Shion."

Ira and Jaird simultaneously began to rub their own heads, effectively messing up their dark hair.

Jaird grinned. "Shion," he mimicked. "I'm not Shion," he grabbed his short hair and held it in a sloppy ponytail, "I'm Nezumi."

Ira snickered and did the same with her own longer hair.

Nezumi scowled and dropped his hand. The kids stopped patting their own heads, too. He opened his mouth to say something when Ira poked him in his stomach. Jaird immediately poked Nezumi in the stomach as well and the both of them giggled. Nezumi shooed their hands away.

"Just what are you two-" He was interrupted as Jaird jumped up, grabbed Nezumi's arm, and started tugging as hard as he could. An instant later, Ira was doing the same with his other arm, and soon enough, the two of them dragged Nezumi off of his bed until he was on his knees on the ground.

"Hey!" He protested, trying to pry their fingers off of his arms. "Get off of-agh!" He let out a cry of surprise as Jaird suddenly jumped on his back and threw his arms around Nezumi's neck. This forced Nezumi to fall forward until he caught himself by holding himself up by his hands, putting him on all fours on the floor.

"Ride!" The young boy squealed. "Want ride on Nezumi!"

"I want a ride, too!" Ira moved to try to clamber onto Nezumi's back as well, but his hands slipped and he fell face forward to the ground, Jaird and Ira coming with him. They landed, screeching, on top of him.

"What is with you two?!" Nezumi groaned and, reaching behind his back, grabbed the back of Jaird's shirt. He pulled the laughing boy off of his back and brought him around so he could see him face-to-face. "Weren't you guys just stoic and lifeless a second ago?!"

Jaird pointed an accusing finger at Nezumi. "You're funny," he giggled as he stretched his short arm as long as he could to pat Nezumi's hair.

Ira poked her head over Nezumi's shoulder. "Shion said we could play with you," she stated matter-of-factly. "He said you're _real_ fun."

Nezumi snarled out a curse under his breath. "He said I'm fun, did he?" He said, this time loud enough so that the two kids could hear him.

Abruptly, Nezumi pushed himself up; Ira was dangling from his back, and Jaird was trying to grab onto his front so that he could be lifted up too. They both let out a cheer that quickly turned into a squeal as Nezumi twisted himself around so he was sitting on the ground with Ira trapped in his arms. He darted his free arm out to grab Jaird, who was now behind him, and bring him around as well. He stuck each of them under each of his arms.

"Who's fun now?" He growled as he bent his arms enough to give them both a noogie at the same time.

"Wow, way to make me feel left out."

Nezumi froze mid-noogie. He didn't want to turn around, but found himself doing just that. Lo and behold, there stood a grinning Shion, a bag hanging from one hand.

"Shion." Nezumi muttered, dumbfounded.

"Seems like you guys had fun," Shion noted.

Ira managed to wriggle her way out of Nezumi's grip. She ran over to Shion and threw her arms around his waist. "He let us play with him!" She said, returning Shion's smile.

Shion returned the hug as best he could before stepping out of her reach. "I could tell." He directed a smug look towards Nezumi, who ignored it. "Your mom's waiting outside, you two."

Reluctantly, Jaird got himself untangled from Nezumi and ducked behind his sister, who was standing next to Shion. Apparently becoming shy all of a sudden, he peeked one eye out and waved goodbye to Nezumi.

"C'mon," Shion prodded, tugging the two of them towards the door. "Maybe you can come play with Nezumi again sometime, okay?"

"Will you tell us another story, Shion?" Ira asked excitedly.

"Sure! We have plenty of books you can choose from."

Ira grabbed Shion's elbow and yanked. Taking the hint, Shion stooped over until they were nearly nose-to-nose. Ira planted a kiss on Shion's cheek.

"Bye!" She giggled. Grabbing her brother's hand, she skipped towards the door. Shion followed them.

After he had waved them goodbye one last time, Shion shut the door and turned around, only to find Nezumi standing there.

"H-hi!" He stammered, startled.

"Where did you go?" Nezumi rubbed the back of his neck. "Those darn kids were _attacking_ me, for Pete's sake!"

"And you seemed to be losing," Shion sniggered.

Nezumi scoffed. "As if."

"I went out shopping," Shion explained, hefting up the bag he was holding. "We were running low on food, and Dogkeeper told me about this one place that sells food pretty cheap, all things considered. I wanted to check it out."

"So you left them here with me?"

"I knew you'd make sure they didn't hurt themselves."

"I was _asleep_."

"Which is why I told them to wake you up."

Nezumi sighed. "Of course you did…"

Shion started to say something, but his words were enveloped by a yawn. It did not go unnoticed by Nezumi.

"It's getting pretty late, huh?" Nezumi said.  
>"I guess so…" Shion barely managed to stifle another yawn. "I think I'm going to go to bed in a little while."<p>

"Yeah, me too," Nezumi agreed. "After all," he continued, stretching his arms up above his head, "being woken up in the midst of a lovely nap and then being forced to fight with two little kids is not exactly a very restful thing, now is it?"

Shion shifted feed. "Sorry about that… I just thought…"

"Yeah, you don't think very well." On impulse, Nezumi leaned forward and gave Shion a quick peck on the cheek.

Shion's face flushed bright red. "Nezumi!"

Nezumi smiled smugly. "You didn't react when that kid kissed you, so I was just wondering if something would happen if I did it. Guess I was right."

"You would react too if someone just kissed you out of nowhere!" Shion protested.

Nezumi turned around and began walking towards his bed. "Whatever makes you feel better."

He was abruptly stopped when he felt two arms wrap around his chest from behind, squeezing hard. "What…?" He tried to twist his neck around to see what Shion was doing, but he didn't have to. He felt lips press against his neck, just underneath his jaw line.

Shion quickly pulled away, looking at the floor. "There," he mumbled. "Now we're even." He looked up to see Nezumi still facing away from him. "Nezumi?"

"Shut up and go to bed," Nezumi ordered, covering his burning cheeks with one hand. "Just go to bed."

**Okay, okay, it's a bit later than I had planned… BUT IT IS STILL (technically) ON TIME! AHAHA!**

**Any of you interested in the twelve days of a Christmas tree? If so, continue reading. If not, too bad.**

**So why are our Christmas trees evergreens? Why not palm trees or coconut trees? Is it because evergreens represent life surviving the harsh months of winter? Because green is a color of hope?**

**Nope!**

**It's because it's FUN! YAY! FUN! ^(^o^)^**

**So that's why they're in our homes on Christmas(more or less)!**

**There's your fun fact on Christmas trees for the day! I am slowly leading up to the twelve days of a Christmas tree! YAYY!**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS! MAY SANTA CLAUSE GET DRUNK AND THINK THAT TOMORROW IS CHRISTMAS AGAIN AND GIVE US ALL MORE PRESENTS! YAYYYYY!**


End file.
